Emerging-market stocks rose, with the benchmark index heading for its biggest advance in three weeks, after India’s main opposition party won four state elections and China’s exports beat estimates. South Korea’s won strengthened to a two-year high.
The MSCI Emerging Markets Index added 0.7 percent to 1,009.58 at 4:06 p.m. in Hong Kong as better-than-estimated data on U.S. jobs also fueled gains. India’s stock gauge jumped to a record and the rupee rallied to a two-month high. The won added 0.5 percent versus the dollar, its fourth day of advances. Thai bonds rose as Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra said she will dissolve parliament. The ruble lost 0.3 percent.
India’s main opposition party won the state polls held over the past month, giving it momentum before a 2014 national election. U.S. employers added more workers to nonfarm payrolls than economists had expected in November and Chinese exports climbed the most in seven months, spurring confidence the global economy can withstand a cut in Federal Reserve stimulus.
“The prospect of stronger growth in the developed world would be good for Asian markets as they tend to be much more growth sensitive,” Peter Elston, head of Asia-Pacific strategy at Aberdeen Asset Management Plc, which oversees about $324.6 billion, said in Singapore.
The MSCI emerging markets index has climbed 14 percent from this year’s low in June and is valued at 10.6 times estimated earnings for the next 12 months, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That compares with 14.5 times for the MSCI World Index.
India Rally
The S&P BSE Sensex index surged 1.6 percent, the most in Asia, while the rupee added 0.4 percent. Victories by the Bharatiya Janata Party in areas holding about a sixth of India’s 1.2 billion people would give it momentum to end the ruling Congress party’s decade-long rule in elections due by May 2014 and install Narendra Modi as prime minister.
The wins will boost the benchmark stock index by as much as 6 percent to a record by year-end, according to the average of 10 estimates compiled by Bloomberg last week.
South Korea’s Kospi index added 1 percent, led by gains in Samsung Electronics Co., while the won strengthened for a fourth day to the highest level since August 2011. The ringgit increased for the first time in five days as the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI Index rose 0.7 percent to a record.
The Federal Open Market Committee will probably start cutting its $85 billion in monthly asset purchases at its Dec. 17-18 meeting, according to 34 percent of economists in a Bloomberg survey conducted Dec. 6, up from 17 percent in a Nov. 8 poll.
Chinese Shares
The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index of mainland companies traded in Hong Kong added 0.5 percent, while the Shanghai Composite Index climbed 0.1 percent, the first advance in three days. Taiwan’s Taiex climbed 0.9 percent.
Russia’s Micex Index (INDEXCF) gained 0.4 percent as OAO Rosneft advanced 1.1 percent.
Thailand’s SET Index climbed 0.1 percent and the baht erased losses. The yield on the 3.625 percent debt due June 2023 dropped eight basis points to 4.03 percent, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Prime Minister Yingluckproposed a decree for the dissolution and to call new elections to quell weeks of street rallies in Bangkok.
Demonstrators, who want Thailand’s democratic system replaced by an unelected council, said earlier the unrest wouldn’t end even if she stepped down or dismissed parliament. Global funds pulled a net $587 million from Thai equities this month, adding to net sales of $1.5 billion in November, exchange data show.
All 10 industry groups in the MSCI emerging markets index increased, led by technology and industrial companies. Haier Electronics Group Co. soared 13 percent to the highest level since July 1999 in Hong Kong after Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. agreed to invest HK$2.82 billion ($364 million) in the home-appliance maker and its logistics business.
